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Friday, December 30, 2011

This has been all over blogland this week so I thought I would give it a go!

The idea is to design your own designer fat quarter bundle like we have seen on the Fat Quarter Shop and then link it up over at Quokka Quilts. There is the possibility of winning a half yard bundle of your selections too!

So I started with violet/purple – my favourite colour! And grey had to be another key colour. I tried yellow as the 3rd colour but it didn’t look right so I went with berry (violet-red) because it is next to violet on the colour wheel.

I have actually been playing with this for a couple of days…and also did another completely different colourway. But I do love this one! The hedgehogs just give the selection a touch of whimsy too which is great.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

To celebrate the opening of my little shop and because I forgot my 2nd blogiversary about a month ago…and after my last post I checked my stats and some numbers matched up! I have done 143 posts and had 143 followers! How cool is that!

So that makes 3 ….. lets have a party!

Over the next 3 weeks I will have a giveaway each week! This week I have for you -

A bunting covered 2012 diary! Since my last bunting diary was quietly popular I made another one!

The diary/journal is a my.mini.organiser diary – designed to keep you organised! I found them at my local newsagent and they are fantastic, the perfect size to cart around with you – it measures 18.5cm x 12cm.

I used scraps for the bunting and some Reunion, Sorry its from Hometown, what was I thinking? by Sweetwater fabric for the background. I really loved making this and the bunting is so fun looking!

So to enter all you need to do is leave a comment telling me what you hope to get out of 2012…..what you want to achieve, your hopes and dreams for the next 12 months!

And if you are one of my valued followers you can have a second entry! Just leave a comment saying you love me…..only joking, just let me know you are a follower!

PS. If you can’t wait to win this diary I have a couple more that I just listed in my etsy shop. They are all different and unique! My creative juices have been really flowing, worth a look really!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

I have been wanting to share a few things with you. What I have been working on and playing with!

I have been making some new blocks for a sampler I am working on -

This block is called “Seeing Double” from the book Modern Blocks.

This block is called “Quatrefoil” From the Modern Blocks book too.

And another block from the Modern Blocks book - “Megan’s Star”. I love this book and have a few more blocks I want to make from it yet!

What sampler would be complete without a Dresden of some kind?!

Almost 99% of the tutes I found for this one used a special ruler, which I didn’t have. I managed to find one with templates and wouldn’t you know it – I just can’t find the website! I have been searching for the last 10 minutes…oh well. If I remember I will let you know.

I have 4 more blocks to do and then I can think about sashing!

I went to Sneak Peek at my local PWS last week and signed up to do this BOM designed by Marti Michell. I would love to use some of my Joel Dewberry stash but I am still playing with ideas! I have a month to figure it out before class starts!

I also did a little stash building! I had a voucher for a free metre of fabric if I purchased a metre so who can blame me?! My free metre is the houndstooth, isn’t it great? Unfortunately they only had 1 colour of the Henna Garden, I think to match the other Sandi Henderson fabric which is next to it. I would have loved to get it in some other colours too.

Today I picked up some light reading from the Library -

I say light in jest – check this out…

The Elm Creek book has to be over 2 inches thick! It does contain 3 of the novels though. I have just started this series and I am so loving it! I can’t wait to sit down with a cuppa and the You Sew Girl book either!

If you are still here you can tell I have been saving a few things up! Thank you for sticking with me!

Now over the next week while things are a bit quieter in blogland I am going to be working on something very special….wait and see!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

These are 2012 Diaries! Great for the new year! And another lanyard made with some gorgeous scraps!

I am also selling these -

This is Issue 1-4 of the Vignette Magazine. I do love these but I can’t see myself having time to make the lovely quilts that are featured….so rather than keeping on collecting them (Issue 5 is now available) I am selling these as a set for $50. I will do free postage for aussies too! What a bargain! (RRP is $17.95 each)

I haven’t listed these anywhere yet so you can buy them directly from me at the moment! They are in great condition, I haven’t made any of the designs only read them and dreamed a little lot! Just send me an email if you are interested.

On a different note – Stuntman update!

Our little stuntman who you might remember broke his arm is going for his last hospital visit this afternoon. They are just checking that he now has normal movement in that arm, I don’t think there will be any problems as he has been using it normally for the last week. Which has given me a few more grey hairs!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Natural Patchwork by Suzuko Koseki – who also designs fantastic fabric too BTW! There are some beautiful projects in this book, but this is what I chose to make…

The hexagon patchwork shoulder bag. I love the scrappiness of this one! I used a pack of scrap charms I won a while ago and added a few special fabrics from my stash.

I added a zippered pocket to the lining, with a silver ring off one side for keys or whatever. I also used a magnetic snap to hold the top together, this was my first attempt at this one and googled how to do it just to be sure I was going to do it right. Thank you to all the fellow bloggers who put little tips and hints on their blogs!

Saturday, December 10, 2011

I was making TP’s end of year presents for his teachers. And I really love the process of starting with scraps or small pieces and seeing were I end up.

I loved quilting them and adding the embellishments – ric rac, buttons, flowers.

And I thought “I wonder if I could sell these?” and I asked a couple of people and got some good feedback. So I am launching my very own (holy cow!) etsy shop!

Jump on over and have a look! If you know anyone who is looking for quality gifts or even for some self-spoiling (is that a word?) send them to visit me! I will be adding more items regularly….I have a million ideas racing around in my head!

I might even have a giveaway to celebrate! Keep an eye out for that soon!

I feel like I have done the NASA countdown for my own shop….so exciting….I think I need a glass of wine now to calm my nerves!

With the matching napkins. I used DS Quilts fabric and the white is from the Sunkissed range.

This is my wonky star night sky quilt. I got the girls from the Bee in Oz to make me a block each and I added some more to make it bigger. And the rocket is my own design that I screen printed with help from my SIL Debbie.

This has been sitting on my table for months patiently waiting for borders. I scrappy pieced the first border with left over starry night fabrics, I didn’t want any of the star points to touch the red border so I extended the sky.

I love the fabric that is the last border…on the selvedge it says “Doki-doki Kids” printed in Japan. It has the cutest astronauts and space ships.

Now that the top is done I need to think about backing and quilting, it might take a bit longer yet – this is always the slow point for me!

I wonder what I can start now! Hmmm, maybe I should finish some more stuff….something new is very tempting though!

Friday, November 25, 2011

This little stuntman broke his arm on Saturday. He fell off a stool in the kitchen, looking at this photo I wonder what he was doing on the stool….

It took awhile to sort out because the first hospital said it was dislocated and put it back in – all by feel, no x-ray. The doctor did x-ray his shoulder to check the collar bone which is fine. So next we took him to our GP when he still wasn’t using his arm and got an x-ray of his elbow – GP said the x-ray looked okay but when the results came back from the Imaging people they said maybe a fracture. Then we had to take him to a different hospital that has a Orthopaedic department. They put it in a half cast and made an appointment to see the specialist 2 days later. When we saw the specialist yesterday they cut the cast off and had a look at the x-rays and said yes it is fractured. They said he could just have a sling on 24/7 for 3 weeks and I said that is not going to happen, the sling won’t last 1/2 hour. So they put a cast on for 10 more days and then he has another x-ray to decide what happens next.

That’s the short and sweet version! As you can see from the photo he hasn’t slowed down any. When I was taking the photos he says “Mummy get one of me standing on one leg”!

Here is an up that happened -

This is my fabrics for the Rainbow Charm Swap. My colours are – blue-green, red-orange, green, violet and yellow.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

I seem to be starting a lot more than I am finishing…I think it is a disease.

It all starts with some new reading material…

I borrowed Sarah Fielke’s book from the library, it is a great book! I am considering buying this book just because the foreword is so inspirational!

Natural Patchwork is a book I borrowed from my SIL Debbie, it is full of beautiful projects and some fantastic bags! Which is what this panel if hexagons is for….

This will be the front or back of one of the bags. I have pieced these on the sewing machine using a Marti Michell template that happened to be the right size, don’t you love it when that happens?

This pinwheel is something I just had to figure out. I suppose it is a bit naughty, we saw these quilts at the craft show and asked how they were made, the man showed us a special ruler that cost $15 which really isn’t too bad and I nearly bought one. But I thought it looked easy enough to figure it out on my own and here is what I came up with.

I used some leftover squares from a Happy charm pack and some yellow out of my stash for the border, it isn’t finished yet as I am still deciding what to do next on it.

Also playing with the same set of Marti Michell templates…this is for another mini quilt for my mum. The segments are called uptown (or something like that) and tumbling blocks.

The Starburst Quilt pattern is one I got from the craft show because when I saw it on display I loved the block. Since then I have seen it again in blogland called Swoon, exactly the same block except different size.

Hooterville….what can I say. When I saw this pattern a while ago on the Material Obsession blog I knew I wanted it and then last week mum told me she had ordered some stuff from their shop and I said “quick ring them and put the Hooterville pattern on your order!” – saving me postage you see!

So, as you can tell my to-do list is getting way tooooo long!

Before I go I want to ask you – do you like rainbows?

I have seen this done in the US but never joined in. Now Lilabelle Lane is starting up a swap for us Aussies and Kiwis! Go and check it out if you are interested – more players are needed!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Since it is November already….were is the year going?….I thought I’d better get my block done for October in the Bee in Oz.

This is so nice and bright. Linda is making these 16” blocks into quilts for charity.

This block is for a sampler quilt I am making from Where the Wind Blows fabric. The pattern for this one is from Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks magazine volume 2.

This one for for the same quilt, and the pattern is from Quiltmaker’s 100 blocks magazine Volume 3.

I have also been working on my Colour Block Placemats and Napkins…

This is the Napkins. I am using DS Quilts fabric for everything except the white, which is from the Sunkissed range.

Now I need to get to work on the placemats.

And finally, yesterday mum and I had a bit of a sewing day.

I made pyjama’s. I used a bit of left over knit from making baby things when TP was born 6 years ago. It has embroidered teddies on it. And finished off the cotton pants with some ric-rac.

Mum worked on a dress for me that I cut out a while ago but my machine refused to sew the fabric….her’s had no problem with the fabric so obviously it is my machine – very frustrating. Anyway, I will model the dress when it is finished…..I don’t know if you should look forward to that! haha